At a press conference Tuesday, the president refused to categorically condemn the hate groups that visited Charlottesville, defending some demonstrators as wanting only to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Critics of such statues say they glorify a faction that took up arms against the US to preserve slavery.

"So this week it's Robert E. Lee," Trump said at the press conference. "I notice that Stonewall Jackson's coming down," he added.

"I wonder: Is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself — where does it stop?"